Health Minister: How to evolve, a lesson learnt from pandemic

The covid19 pandemic has and continues to teach everyone, including countries and organisations, how to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh shared this view on the first day of Amcham’s 25th HSSE virtual conference and exhibition on Monday, which was themed Learn, Evolve, Thrive.

The pandemic, he said, has grossly affected health systems across the world, significantly hampering economic growth and social development, mental health.

“It has now disrupted global supply chains, everything from semi-conductors, electronics, cars, pharmaceuticals, food, building materials, etc. We have to learn; we have to evolve. The covid19 pandemic touches your health, safety, security and the environment.”

He said the swift changes to things that were thought to be inconsequential interrupted an entire global environment and as such preparation, crisis management, environmental scanning and scenario planning were critical for survival.

“Change is constant and can occur in a nano-second. Information is key and monitoring the evolving science is absolutely essential for planning, resilience, agility and adaptability, which are the four pillars for coping, evolving and surviving.”

Deyalsingh said as time passed, the science evolved from how the covid19 virus was transmitted to the non-usage and eventual use of masks and new variants.

He pointed to the new findings of science in treating with the virus as an example of learning, living and evolving which should be applied to manoeuvring life in the future.

“This is what nations, organisations, communities, people and individuals face, with their own adaptation so that we can continue to exist.

“It is for these reasons we should rely on the occupational health and safety (OSH) principles to ensure that we continue to survive, as a people, as country, as a nation and as a human race as we evolve and live with the virus.”

Deyalsingh added that covid19 vaccines have become the main response in the fight against the virus and has proven to be effective.

“Our own statistics tell us that 94.2 per cent of people coming to our parallel healthcare system are unvaccinated. The government has developed a robust vaccine programme and delivered vaccines of different brands that would allow all eligible residents to be fully vaccinated.”

He added that cooperation with the private sector was integral in the vaccination drive over the past months, which cost $18.7 million.